"The Moon, Come to Earth: Dispatches from Lisbon is so enchanting: It dances and sighs. It twitches and hums and stumbles and then rights itself, with a winsome smile. It''s like a living thing, filled with desire and uncertainty and joy and regret . . . Graham is a nimble, witty writer with a penchant for teasing out the small, telling detail from the crowded scene around him. . . and this book is the perfect companion as one contemplates those mysteries, those ceaseless journeys outward and inward."--Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune
(Julia Keller
Chicago Tribune )
"Graham''s writing is unobtrusive and gentle, and . . . there is a pleasant luminosity that renders this little books of essays serene and enjoyable."--Observer, UK
(
Guardian, The Observer )
"In The Moon, Come to Earth Philip Graham takes us on the best kind of journey, as he simultaneously reveals the fascinating city of Lisbon--its neighborhoods, its writers, its customs, its cuisine--and offers an intimate portrait of his beloved family. With his far-reaching intellect Graham is the ideal travelling companion, and The Moon, Come to Earth is a beautiful and surprising book."--Margot Livesey
(Margot Livesey )
"I have long been a great fan of the delicately nuanced, keenly perceptive, beautifully articulated sensibility of Philip Graham. In his dispatches from Lisbon, The Moon, Come to Earth, he is at his exquisite best. I am very happy to follow this wonderful mind wherever in the world it wishes to go."--Robert Olen Butler
(Robert Olen Butler )
"A good part of the reason I feel so passionately positive about The Moon, Come to Earth is how well Graham is able to convey his compassionate, generous, and comic spirit to the reader. Unfailingly endearing, whether he''s trying to figure the number of cobblestones in Lisbon or trying to find an ATM to buy tickets for a futbol match, Graham becomes the reader''s traveling surrogate in the best sense. But this book is as much about parenthood as it is about Portugal, with Graham''s daughter Hannah as the most constant figure in the narrative. The portrait of this father-daughter relationship is about as lovely as I''ve seen."--Robin Hemley, author of Do-Over!
(Robin Hemley, author of Do-Over! )
"A beautiful Valentine to Lisbon. Philip Graham and his family take their artistic keenness to Portugal and capture its mystery and contradictions: Whether it''s visiting the set of a reality TV show where famous writers play hosts, or overlooking a gorgeous stone labyrinth used to trap wolves, Graham adores the offbeat even as he captures the soul of the city with good humor. There''s a taste of wine here, and giant sardines, and carnivals, and saudade, and a moon made of canvas with a light like a glowing heart. This is about a family living everyone''s dream of trying out a year abroad. But it might be the saga of the daughter, Hannah, and how the adventure abruptly becomes a journey into the loss of childhood, that grips the reader most deeply."--Katherine Vaz, author of Saudade, Mariana, Fado & Other Stories, and Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories
(Katherine Vaz )
"Part travelogue and part memoir, Philip Graham''s The Moon, Come to Earth brings us the news of Portugal past and present, touching on food and sports, religion and language, music and literature and art. Graham’s greatest strength is his ability to observe sharply and think clearly through the varied roles of public spectacle: the many ways in which the Portuguese tell stories of and to themselves through fireworks festivals and bullfights, medieval fairs and theater, magic shows and soccer matches and transformational public art. Given structure by his repeated return to the concept of saudade--''a complicated feeling that combines sorrow, longing and regret, laced perhaps with a little mournful pleasure''--and given buoyancy by the ebullience of his voice, The Moon, Come to Earth shows Graham at the top of his game."--Roy Kesey
(Roy Kesey )
"The Moon, Come to Earth offers manifold delights. For an uninitiated reader, it''s an introduction to Portuguese culture, language, literature, and history. At the same time, Graham speaks eloquently to the wider processes of discovering emotional truths through self-reflection and of revealing philosophical and political insights through a close attention to particulars. Graham''s voice--with its stunning metaphors, elegant turns of phrase, and delightful wit--carries such warmth and charm that one keeps reading partly for the pleasure of his company."--Kirin Narayan, author of My Family and Other Saints
(Kirin Narayan, author of My Family and Other Saints )
"Philip Graham shows us how to write honestly and well about an unfamiliar culture . . . Written like a poem, and full of the poignant details one only notices when embedded in a new culture, not just passing through . . . The Moon, Come to Earth should be required reading for all those about to travel abroad, especially if they plan to pack along pen and paper."--Dinty W. Moore, Brevity
(
Brevity )
"The wonderful collected memoir . . . The Moon, Come to Earth lifted me up from my humdrum life and transplanted me into the Graham family’s Lisbon adventure. It was a day-to-day adventure, full of the familiar, full of new routines and small struggles. It was a bit sad to leave it all, a bit of saudade creeping into my own life."---Andrew Saikali, The Millions
(
The Millions )
